(Bloomberg) -- Nippon Steel Corp.’s Vice President Takahiro Mori is set for a US visit that will include a meeting next week with workers representing the three major local unions that run United States Steel Corp.’s iconic plants in the Pittsburgh area.
The move indicates that the Japanese company is making a push to persuade rank-and-file union members that its $14.1 billion bid to take over US Steel will be good for the workers’ long-term prospects. During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump said he’d block the deal, which remains before regulators.
United Steelworkers Local 2227 Vice President Jason Zugai said in an interview that he received a personal email from Mori and agreed to sit down with the executive next week at a yet-to-be-determined time and will bring along multiple union members from the Edgar Thomson Plant, Clairton Plant and Irvin Plant. Zugai said he is hoping United Steelworkers International President David McCall, who has been steadfast in his opposition since the deal was announced in December, will also sit down with Mori and reconsider his stance.
The development comes as both companies await a decision about the pending transaction from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, or CFIUS. Earlier this year, the security panel granted Nippon Steel permission to refile its plans for the purchase. The potential takeover became an election flash point, particularly in swing-state Pennsylvania, where both US Steel and the USW are based. Investors, analysts and the broader industry are eager for a decision now that the election has passed.
McCall said in a Wednesday message that he wasn’t aware of local union members meeting with Mori. He repeated a position that the national union is seeking a written contract from Nippon Steel guaranteeing capital investments. He said the current terms of the deal would come “at the expense of national defense” and critical supply chains.
Zugai said in a Wednesday interview that he expects to tell Mori that he and his fellow steelworkers want their labor contract extended: “Extend it another four years, keep the same pay raises. That would go a long way to get this deal to the finish line.”
“I’m doing whatever I have to do to get this deal done,” he said.
Visit Stops
Zugai also said Mori will attend this weekend’s Pittsburgh Steelers football game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Mori is also likely to stop in New York and Washington during his visit, according to a person familiar with the plans who asked not to be named because the information is private. The trip has been in the works for several weeks, but the company was waiting for the US election, held on Nov. 5, to pass, the person said.
McCall, the union head, questioned the legality of Mori’s meeting.
“I wonder if Mori and Nippon are so desperate they now are prepared to violate the law by dealing directly with members?” he said in the statement. “I’ve told Mori I would meet with them when they are prepared to put in writing guaranteeing capital investments in steelmaking and finishing including the blast furnace and coke facilities.”
Federal law restricts companies from going around the union to negotiate terms directly with union employees.
“We have engaged with stakeholders, including employees, to share our vision for US Steel, provide reassurances about the future, and answer any questions they may have,” Nippon Steel said Thursday in an emailed statement. “Over that same time frame, we have recognized the USW International as the bargaining representative for the workers.”
US Steel didn’t immediately provide comment.
McCall said last month in an interview that he was making a final push ahead of the election to stress to his members why union leadership opposes the Japanese takeover, a move that came as members openly challenged his position. A group of union workers in October spoke to a Fox News program to publicly say they supported Nippon Steel’s acquisition of the storied American company.
A day before the election, Zugai said he and many other steelworkers stood beside Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania to show their support for the candidate. Zugai said he talked afterward to Trump for about three minutes about the deal and told him many steelworkers support it.
It’s unclear if a decision to approve or kill the deal will ever reach Trump’s desk, as the CFIUS decision timeline has been pushed to December, while the Biden administration is still in office.
--With assistance from Josh Eidelson.
(Adds comments from McCall and Nippon Steel from 11th paragraph.)
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